Romanesque Patrons and Processes (2014) Barcelona - Abstracts

CATALONIA IN THE ROMANESQUE PERIOD

Expansion in Twelfth Century Catalonia. Counties, Towns and the Church
Maria Bonet Donato

The Catalan territories experienced very significant territorial expansion
and economic growth in the twelfth century. New institutions and new forms
of government responded to these changes and boosted them. This can be seen
in the redefinition of county power, the beginnings of urban governance and
the introduction of new ecclesiastical organizations. In the early twelfth
century, the Catalan counties were a mosaic of political powers while by
the end of the century they were to some extent subject to the hegemony of
the County of Barcelona, whose holder was the King of Aragon. As Count of
Barcelona, Ramon Berenguer IV reinforced his leadership thanks to his
marriage with the heiress to the kingdom of Aragon. Additionally, he became
pre-eminent among other regional powers with the conquest and
administration of the Southern lands from mid-century.


From then on signs of population and economic growth become evident,
manifesting themselves in the proliferation of villages, the development of
cities, and an increase of artisanal, agricultural and commercial activity.
As with the political situation, Barcelona lead the rise in commerce,
although other towns prospered as regional centers. Social and economic
developments called for a new organization of power, in order to guarantee
peace, and favor commerce and military efficiency. The Count and his son,
King Alfonso II, known as Alfonso the Chaste, claimed responsibility for
these things, just as they did military leadership. However, in practice,
they favored the deployment of other powers in the territories under their
dominion, urban or ecclesiastical institutions as well as their own
delegates. New ecclesiastical institutions functioned as alternatives to
their power, and contributed to the organization or balance of more
regional powers. Catalonia consolidated itself as a political entity at the
intersection of political spaces, acting as a crossroads, and favouring
expansion in all senses. The movement of people, commercial traffic and
cultural exchange were the best expressions of the geopolitical and
economic conditions of the twelfth century.


Patrons, Institutions and Public in the Making of Catalan Romanesque Art
Manuel Castiñeiras

No one is in any doubt as to the innovative qualities and originality
displayed by Catalan art between the 11th and 13th centuries. From the end
of 19th century onwards scholars have pointed out its precocity in
monumental sculpture, the intriguing connections between its illuminated
manuscripts and early traditions of Christian iconography, the
extraordinary and wide-ranging production of mural and panel painting
throughout the 12th century, and even the unusual local production of
embroideries. Geographical, cultural and political reasons have been
invoked within the broader discourse on the peculiarities of Romanesque
Catalan art in relation to contemporary art in the rest of Iberian
Peninsula and in Europe. It is worth noting that many of the trends in
Catalan art are actually due to the Mediterranean position of the Catalan
counties. However, this shouldn't be understood as a simple geographical
fact, but as a rich cultural and artistic context to which the main agents
of Catalan art responded and contributed. As in other Medieval
Mediterranean lands such as Provence, Tuscany or Apulia the presence of a
classical heritage and Early Christian traditions conditioned the
perception of the past. Furthermore, the sea was never seen as a border,
rather it acted as a connective tissue, linking Catalonia with overseas
regions such as South Italy, Byzantium or the Holy Land.

Nevertheless, until the middle of the 12th century, Catalonia was not a
centre but a periphery. Being outside the orbit of the major royal powers,
and therefore without a courtly art, the Marca Hispanica remained distant
form the artistic foci of Carolingian and Post-Carolingian art. Besides, it
was without a metropolitan see until the conquest of Tarragona. Hence, from
the very outset the local Church, together with the lay magnates, promoted
artistic agency in an attempt to shore up their ecclesiastical and
political status, based on their alliance with the Papacy. In this regard,
Oliba, abbot of Ripoll and Cuixà and bishop of Vic, along with his comital
family, were leaders in what many authors have defined as the Catalan mini-
renaissance of the 11th Century, while Saint Ot of La Seu d'Urgell and his
relatives, the Counts of Pallars, were one of the driving forces in the
transformation of the monumental arts during the late 11th and early 12th
centuries. The distinctive role of aristocratic women in the promotion of
the minor arts (metalwork and embroidery), and the importance of 12th
century ecclesiastical centres for the making of liturgical furnishing and
imagery, are topics that await detailed analysis.

Although the territorial expansion of the county of Barcelona and its
incorporation into the Crown of Aragon in the middle of the 12th century
marked a new era and dimension for Catalan art, many outstanding examples
of the figurative arts at the period should be seen as a reactivation of
earlier trends, or even an extension of these earlier traditions into new
media. If the "triumphal" Portal at Ripoll and the archaizing style of
Cabestany were still joined to a classical tradition, the astonishing
production of later Romanesque panel and mural painting around 1200
confirmed Catalonia's privileged Mediterranean position, addressing the
heritage of Crusader and Byzantine Art.


A Very Short Introduction to Catalan Romanesque Architecture
John McNeill

The last of the pre-conference introductory papers is devoted to
architecture, and is intended to provide a context for some, at least, of
the conference visits. It is divided into three principal sections. The
first concerns the historiography of Romanesque architecture in Catalunya,
and the importance of the highly-organised 'excursions' mounted at the
beginning of the 20th century by architects and cultural luminaries such as
Lluis Domènech i Montaner and Josep Puig i Cadafalch. These were immensely
effective in both establishing a field of study and a vocabulary which
eventually matured under the umbrella title 'le premier art roman' or First
Romanesque. This period also, significantly, coincides with the removal of
a number of important ensembles of Romanesque wall paintings from north-
western Catalunya – many of which are now displayed at MNAC. The second
section is concerned with the international currency of First Romanesque,
and the existence of formal relationships that seemingly connect 11th-
century Catalunya with a larger Mediterranean world. A final section will
then concentrate on work associated with the celebrated early 11th-century
pluralist and princely churchman, Oliba (971-1046), abbot of Cuxa and
Ripoll and Bishop of Vic.


SESSION 1

Matilda of Canossa and the Gregorian Reform in the Towns
Arturo Carlo Quintavalle

Matilda of Canossa (1046–1115) followed on from her father Boniface
(985–1052) and mother Beatrice (1017–76) in creating a realm that stretched
from Tuscany to central Emilia and on towards the Veneto and southern
Lombardy. While their power was securely based on a line of castles
straddling the Apennines and a system of monasteries, from Frassinoro to
Nonantola and San Benedetto al Polirone, careful attention was focused also
and indeed above all on the cities. Boniface planned a sort of Regnum
Italiae in the Po Valley with its capital in Mantua, where his palatium was
located.

The most recent historical studies underscore Matilda's active presence in
the context of cities such as Reggio Emilia, Modena, Parma and Cremona, and
art history must also take these findings into consideration. The period
1090–1120 saw major urban construction projects. New cathedrals were built
either when pro-imperial bishops were expelled and orthodox bishops
installed or when the sees were vacant. In any case, Matilda and her allies
were a strong urban presence.

The activities of Wiligelmo and his assistants at Nonantola and San
Bendetto al Polirone, as well as Modena, Cremona and finally Piacenza
present a substantially unified picture, based on comparable books of
drawings, of an anti-heretical character, the heretics being pro-imperial
prelates. Matilda's policy was aimed at a map of power extending beyond
death and her father's dream of a Regnum Italiae. Boniface is indeed buried
in Mantua, with Beatrice in Pisa and Matilde at San Benedetto al Polirone.
As Donizo wrote bitterly in his Vita Mathildis around 1115, the remains of
their ancestors remained at Canossa, buried like Beatrice and perhaps
Boniface in great Roman sarcophagi.


'Function, Condition and Process in Anglo-Norman Church Architecture'
Richard Gem

The paper addresses the theme of the conference by: first, setting out a
general model of how construction in the period under consideration was
conditioned by three main theoretical factors; and then, illustrating how
these factors were instantiated in practice by reference to four major
Romanesque church building projects in late 11th-century England

The three main factors defined in the theoretical model are:-

(i) The intended functions of the building, including in the case of a
church: its practical religious use for celebrating the liturgy and
the monastic office; its symbolic expression of ideas; and the
projection of the status of the patron.

(ii) The prevailing conditions limiting its realisation, including:
the available financial resources; and the technical and design skills
of craftsmen.


(iii) The practical processes surrounding its construction, including:
the patron's brief; the administration of the works; the provision of
materials; and the hiring of craftsmen.

Three of the major building projects then taken to illustrate this model
are ones that were highly innovative but that, unfortunately, survive only
in part, though they are well documented. The fourth example is less
innovative but is better preserved. These projects are:-

(i) Christ Church Cathedral, Canterbury, as rebuilt by Archbishop
Lanfranc (1070-1089).


(ii) St Augustine's Abbey, Canterbury, as rebuilt by Abbots Scolland
(1070-1087) and Guido (1087-c.1093).


(iii) St Albans Abbey, as rebuilt by Abbot Paul (1077-1093) and
completed under Abbot Richard (1097-1119)

(iv) Christ Church Cathedral, Canterbury, as extended by Archbishop
Anselm (1093-1109) and completed by his successors.

The interaction in these projects between the patrons' intentions and the
factors conditioning their realisation were to be seminal for the
establishment and future development of Romanesque architecture in England.


From Peláez to Gelmírez. The Problem of Art Patronage at the Romanesque
Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela
Jens Rueffer
The Romanesque cathedral of Santiago de Compostela was begun under the
episcopacy of Diego I. Peláez between 1075 and 1078 and nearly finished
under archbishop Diego II. Gelmírez (d. 1140), although it had not been
consecrated by the time the bishop died. Many dignitaries and several
institutions shared different aims and interests regarding the cathedral:
the bishops, members of the cathedral chapter, the Kings and the Queen of
Castile-León (Alfonso VI, Urraca and Alfonso VII), and finally the convent
of Antealtares.
Usually, the question of artistic patronage is posed with a focus on a
particular person as patron, like Abbot Suger in the case of St-Denis or
Gelmírez in the case of Santiago. I am approaching the question of
patronage from a different angle. By focusing on the object, and the span
of time from c. 1075 to c. 1140, I will ask which persons supported the
cathedral of Santiago de Compostela over this period, and which persons
refused – sometimes only temporarily – to support the enterprise for
special reasons. My aim is to point up the conflicts, changing interests
and alliances of the different protagonists as patrons. I also wish to ask
to which extent this had an influence of the design of the cathedral.
My contribution is based on a rereading of three important historical
sources, the Concordia de Antealtares, the Codex Calixtinus, and the
Historia Compostellana, as well as on the new archaeological investigation
undertaken by a research group from the University of Cottbus. In analysing
these texts I would like to stress the interests of the protagonists
mentioned above that can be related to artistic patronage, as well as the
ambiguities and the information which is not given by the texts. The result
is a vivid mosaic of claims, interests and expectations, different to that
which would emerge if one focussed on the patronage of a single person.
SESSION 2
The Vercelli Roll: Iconographic Tradition and Institutional Patronage
Ludovico V. Geymonat


How was the process of creating new painted cycles in Romanesque
Cathedrals affected by the presence of earlier works? How did the cult of
saints and the iconography linked to a specific site maintain continuity
over long periods of time and different generations of patrons? At what
stage during the process did iconographic tradition come into play, and
what was the role of patronage in preserving it? And, more specifically,
how did a Chapter play its institutional role in the maintenance of the
Cathedral's wall paintings? In answering these questions, an illuminating
case study comes from the linear drawings in colour inks on the Vercelli
Roll (c. 60 x 180 cm; early 13th century; Vercelli, Archivio Capitolare).
The three sheets of parchment are glued together, and the roll includes no
less than 27 scenes illustrating 34 episodes from the Acts of the Apostles.
Two lines of verse along the short sides inform us of the main function of
the roll: the drawings were made to preserve an image of the paintings in
the nave of the Cathedral of Vercelli, which were in danger of being
obliterated by age. The five-aisled Cathedral, adorned with Carolingian and
Romanesque paintings, was demolished and rebuilt in the early 18th century.
However, a plan of the church drawn by Guarino Guarini in 1680, and
recently rediscovered in the Archivio di Stato of Turin, has made it
possible to reconstruct the shape and the dimensions of the original late-
antique building. It is now possible to read the Vercelli Roll against
Guarini's plan and reconstruct the spatial layout of the Romanesque painted
cycle.

My paper will examine the drawings in Vercelli, along with a number of
examples of superimposed layers of painting showing the same iconography.
The focus will be on the means whereby iconographic traditions were
preserved, and the role of patrons in determining continuity and change.


Inscriptions along the short sides of the roll
" Hoc notat exemplum media testudine templum / Ut renovet novitas quod
delet longa vetustas"
"Hic est descriptum media testudine pictum / Ecclesie signans ibi que sunt
atque figurans"


Recent bibliography
- R.W. Scheller, Exemplum. Model-Book Drawings and the Practice of Artistic
Transmission in the Middle Ages (ca. 900-ca. 1470), Amsterdam 1995, pp. 155-
160
- S. Uggè, "Rotolo di pergamena con scene degli Atti degli Apostoli," Et
Verbum caro factum est...: la Bibbia oggi e la sua trasmissione nei secoli,
Vercelli 2005, 77-80
- M. Aimone, "L'antica basilica di S. Eusebio a Vercelli in un disegno
ritrovato di Guarino Guarini," Bollettino storico vercellese, 34 (2005),
pp. 75-101
- M. Aimone, "Ad exemplum basilicae veteris S. Petri Romae: nuovi dati e
nuove ipotesi sull'antica basilica di S. Eusebio a Vercelli," Bollettino
storico vercellese, 35 (2006), pp. 5-67


Patronage, Romanesque architecture and the Languedoc
Eric Fernie

The March of Gothia is not widely referred to in the literature on the
political and architectural history of the Mediterranean coast of France in
the eleventh century. The paper offers an assessment of the relevance of
the March to the First Romanesque architecture of what is now known as
lower Languedoc or the larger element of the modern province of Languedoc-
Roussillon.

The first part looks into what might be relevant to the character of the
march in what happened to the area from the fifth century to the eighth,
and then, with particular regard to the name Gothia and its marcher status,
from the ninth century to the eleventh.

In terms of the First Romanesque architecture itself, the three abbey
churches of Lagrasse, Quarante and Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert, datable to the
middle years of the eleventh century, have been selected. They introduce
the question of the route by which the style was adopted from Lombardy,
directly overland via Provence, or by sea via Catalonia. The view of most
scholars that it was from Catalonia is supported by the following
considerations. First is the existence of horseshoe arches in buildings
earlier than the eleventh century, such as Saint-Martin-des-Puits,
indicating, along with the political factors of the first millennium, an
existing orientation towards the Iberian peninsula. Second is the opening
up of sea routes between Lombardy and Catalonia after 972. Third are the
close formal relationships of the three buildings with their parallel
structures in Catalonia, Lagrasse with Ripoll and Quarante and Saint-
Guilhem with Cardona, including evidence that the Catalan buildings are
earlier than those in Gothia. Fourth is the character of the political unit
of Gothia and how that might have formed the views of the patrons involved
in commissioning the buildings, including elements of cultural
identification with the peninsula and differentiation from other areas.


SESSION 3

Remarks on patron inscriptions with restricted presence
Wilfried E. Keil

Patron inscriptions are usually located in clearly visible positions,
meaning that they are present. These inscriptions mostly convey information
regarding the donation. There are also shorter patron inscriptions that
mention little more than the name of the patron. For example, on a former
gateway lion from Worms Cathedral one can find the inscription ADELR(ICVS)
· ME · EM(IT). This text was clearly visible and names the patron and
sponsor of the construction and/or decoration of some parts of the gateway.

Worms Cathedral holds another example of a patron inscription. This one,
however, is of limited visibility, a patron inscription of so-called
restricted presence (Hilgert). The Juliana-relief is located at the bottom
of a pilaster in the eastern sanctuary. This architectural sculpture is
directed towards the altar and is not visible to church visitors. It has
three inscriptions in Romanesque majuscule: The sculptural inscription
IULIANA, the artist's inscription OTTO / ME / FE/CIT and the patronal
inscription AD/EL/BR/AHT / MO/NE/TA/RI/VS. Adelbraht the coiner can be
connected with a person found in medieval documents. It is not certain if
Adelbraht donated only the Juliana-relief or work that extended across some
other parts of the sanctuary. Whatever the case, the fact that he was
allowed to place his name in the sanctuary is indicative of his influence.
How much influence coiners could have, recurs about half a century later.
The community of coiners was economically and politically very influential
in Worms. Because of their efforts, town privileges were granted to Worms
by Emperor Friedrich I Barbarossa.

However, the placing of Adelbraht`s inscription raises several questions
concerning its function and content. Why did he leave his name in a
position that afforded limited visibility? He might have done this for
several reasons: The inscription could have functioned as a legal document.
The process of inscribing could be connected with the inscribing of his
name in the Book of Life. The patron could also have taken care of his own
memoria, since the priest is able to see the inscription before the Mass.
In the last two cases there is the question of how much importance was
given to the proximity to the altar or the tomb or the relic of a Saint.
This could be seen as analogous to the tradition to being buried as close
as possible to the Saints.



From pallium cum elefantis to the Marriage of Mercury and Philology: Gifts
of Textiles and the Varied Strategies of Elite Women
Alexandra Gajewski and Stefanie Seeberg


Members of the medieval elite –men and women, clerical and lay – enriched
the treasuries of ecclesiastical institutions with their donations of
textiles, including such prestigious offerings as pallia, normally
describing an unused, complete piece of silk. Such textiles played a
central role in the liturgy and daily life of the Church. They were used to
envelop precious relics, to decorate church furnishings, and to highlight
the main spaces within the church; finally, they served as visible
documents, demonstrating the donor's patronage of the institution. It is
necessary to insist on the importance of textiles because, until quite
recently, scholarship has largely overlooked this type of donation.
However, in medieval lists of offerings, textiles often figure above gifts
of gold and silver. The study of textiles opens a rich new arena of complex
meaning linking the donor with an institution. Like other types of gifts,
textiles given to monasteries carried a traditional set of expectations on
both sides of the transaction. For elite women in particular, the role of
founder, protector or abbess offered them an ideal field of activity, one
that linked the secular and the spiritual spheres, and that helped them in
establishing a position for themselves within the power structures of the
day.

With female patrons and ecclesiastical institutions at the centre of this
discussion, we will ask: were textiles a preferred type of donation for
women? How, if at all, did their patronage differ from that of men? We will
also look at women as designers of textiles. Finally, we will examine the
mechanisms developed by ecclesiastical writers to encourage women in their
role as donors of textiles. Two case studies throw light on the complex
inter-relationship among female patrons, textiles and institutions. The
first will focus on Empress Agnes of Poitou (d. 1077), and her donation to
Monte Cassino Abbey of a large silk pallium cum elefantis. Agnes was the
daughter of William V, duke of Aquitaine and Agnes of Burgundy. In 1043 she
married Emperor Henry III. This 'European' background shaped her patronage,
and her powerful position allowed her to link her individual memoria with
one of the most important monastic institutions of the time that welcomed
the support of the imperial family. The patterns of patronage of women like
Agnes followed exemplars like Saint Radegund and the Queen of Sheba, that
were astutely promoted by Church writers. Further examples of female
patronage will set Agnes in context. Our second example will look at the
question of elite women as patrons of textiles from an institutional
perspective. The monumental tapestry from Quedlinburg (c.1200) with
representations of the Late Antique allegory, the Marriage of Mercury and
Philology, shows the strategies developed by aristocratic religious women
in order to defend their institution's position. This tapestry and the
story of its creation also offer intriguing comparisons with the Girona
tapestry.


SESSION 4


Grandmont and the English KingS

Claude Andrault-Schmitt



After Becket's death, the prior of Grandmont near Limoges is supposed to
have written to King Henry II: "we have sent back the workmen that your
devotion had assigned to the church building". How do we understand this
patronage? The abbey is now entirely destroyed. But the documentary record
remains tantalizing, notwithstanding the numerous forgeries and mythical
narratives that make it problematic

The grants from Henry (Henricus nulli Regum pietate secundus), Richard (Rex
Angliae Ordinis Grandimondis Mecenas) and King John (less munificent, of
course, but obviously as generous as some of his knights) are genuine. The
Pipe Rolls can also be co-opted to help in understanding the role Henry
played at Grandmont, as with an entry describing the sending of roof lead
from Newcastle to La Rochelle (1175/1176). Nevertheless, there is nothing
in the architecture of the church of St Mary at Grandmont that suggests
royal or 'Angevin' influence.

Architecturally, we must distinguish between a very long and narrow
aisleless nave, which was barrel vaulted and is associated with two chapels
(about 1166?), and a gorgeous presbytery (a setting perhaps related to the
beautiful reliquaries created around the date of the canonisation of the
founder, Etienne de Muret, in 1189). I will argue that the church was
responsive to both local and international trends, and was responsive to a
broader architectural realignment as the new reformed orders adjusted to
prosperity, and the increased incomes proper to stone work. Two other
buildings within the diocese of Limoges will be cited: the Cistercian abbey
church of Bonlieu in the north-east and the church of L'Artige near Saint-
Léonard.

In its turn, Grandmont acted as a fountainhead for the little houses of the
Order, all of which seem very similar to one another, from England to
Languedoc, though we should remain cautious in front of such picturesque
buildings as Comberoumal, near Millau. This is clearly much later than the
mother house, dating from the first decades of the 13th century, and
represents a type of tardo-romanico, the term here intended in a
generational and positive sense.




King Henry II, St Hugh, and the Winchester Bible
Christopher Norton

The Winchester Bible is one of the finest of all twelfth-century
manuscripts. It is celebrated for the evidence that it provides for the
collaboration of a number of different artists – each of the highest
quality – on a single project, and for its stylistic links with the wall-
paintings at Sigena and the late twelfth-century mosaics in Sicily. There
is still much that is disputed and much to learn on these topics. The
present paper, however, aims to approach the Bible from the perspective of
ownership and patronage, and the involvement of certain famous individuals
in its production and ultimate abandonment.
The paper will begin with a brief consideration of the evidence for
the involvement of Henry of Blois, bishop of Winchester, at the start of
the project. It will then focus on an important chapter in the Magna Vita
Sancti Hugonis. This records how King Henry II in the 1180s pressurised the
community at Winchester Cathedral to give up a splendid new bible so that
he could give it to Hugh of Avalon (St Hugh of Lincoln), prior of the
Carthusian monastery at Witham which Henry had founded. Hugh then arranged
for the bible to be returned to Winchester without the king knowing. This
text has long been known but its proper significance, I believe, has never
been understood. I shall argue
that the Bible in question really is the Winchester Bible, contrary
to what has been said in recent scholarship, and that this episode
explains why its illuminations were never completed.

that the episode can be dated very precisely to the mid 1180s.

that the oft-cited statement that the Bible was intended for reading
in the refectory in fact carries a very different meaning when
understood as part of a subtle monastic disputation held in the shadow
of a monarch whom few churchmen, after the death of Becket, dared to
contradict.

(and more tentatively) that the story suggests a reading of the
mysterious, supernumerary Morgan Leaf, which illustrates episodes from
the Book of Kings' in the context of King Henry II's own travails as
king.



The Hospital, England and Sigena: A Footnote
Neil Stratford

Circumstantial evidence is presented to show how the Morgan master and
perhaps other illuminators of the Winchester Bible could have come into
contact with various leading figures of the Order of the Hospital of Saint
John of Jerusalem, which established the female Hospitaller convent of
Sigena in the late 1180s for Sancha and Alfonso II of Aragon.
This is a period when the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem was under attack; The
city of Jerusalem was lost to Saladin in October 1187.

The Prior of Saint-Gilles, the Hospital's European headquarters, gave
Sigena in 1187 to Sancha, though the early charters of the convent stress
that it is the Castellan of Amposta, the Hospital's head in the kingdom of
Aragon, who had ultimate guardianship of the sisters of Sigena. A group of
Hospitaller brothers (fratres) was also resident at Sigena, which was a
double community throughout its history, even if the prioress took many
decisions on behalf of the sisters. The main body of this paper concerns an
embassy to the West mounted by Heraclius, Patriarch of Jerusalem in the
company of the Master of the Temple, Arnaud de Torri Rubea, and the Grand
Master of the Hospital, Roger des Moulins in 1184-85, and the effect this
may have had on Hospital foundations across the West.


SESSION 5

Profane Images under Authority of Clerical Patronage : the Romanesque
Decoration of Basel Cathedral's Ambulatory.
Nathalie Le Luel

The presence of profane iconographic motifs in the decoration of a
church, or any other religious buildings, is frequently and wrongly
interpreted as the result of the whim of Romanesque artist. The objective
of this paper is to highlight the role of the Church in the commissioning
of these profane images. The overwhelming majority of these images,
sometimes even licentious, were part of a program decided in advance that
emanated from the clergy. I shall try to show that this iconographic
repertoire did not develop outside the control of its patron, that is the
Church, but that on the contrary, in a number of cases, this type of
imagery seems carefully combined with classic motifs derived from the
biblical repertoire. For this purpose, a concrete example of such a
commission will be presented: the hemicycle capitals of the ambulatory of
Basel cathedral (Switzerland). Realized during the last quarter of the 12th
century, the Basel sculpture associates biblical themes with scenes of
fighting and images that have emerged from a clerical literary culture. The
analysis of what is a complex iconographic decoration on an eschatological
theme, will be the occasion to show how the hemicycle capitals are a
product of the culture of the clerks, revealing that institutional
patronage lies behind the implementation of this iconographic program.


The Bridekirk Font and its Patrons
Hugh Doherty

The Bridekirk font, from the church of St Bridget in Bridekirk, Cumberland,
is one of the most remarkable Romanesque furnishings to survive from
northern England. The font, which very likely dates from the second quarter
of the twelfth century, is celebrated not only for the quality of its
design and the character of it stylistic details, but also for its runic
inscription, which uses Scandinavian runes for a text in early Middle
English. Together with the chancel arch, the font is all that remains of
the original twelfth-century church, which was demolished and rebuilt in
the 1860s. As this paper hopes to show, the quality of workmanship
evidenced in the font reflects the power and wealth of its lay patrons, the
Anglo-Scandinavian lords of Allerdale, and of the small community of
priests who served them. These lords, who retained close control of the
church until the early thirteenth century, were the leading representatives
of one of the premier ruling families of pre-Norman Cumbria; they were
lords of significant local authority and clout. A revealing and valuable
measure of their investment in this church, and of the standing of its
community of priests, is provided by a dossier of documents, seen and
copied in 1665, but now entirely lost; the dossier, which has been entirely
overlooked by historians, offers a rare glimpse into the archive and
operation of a twelfth-century minister community and church. The Bridekirk
font therefore has much to tell us about the aspirations, interactions, and
investments of patrons and audience in the twelfth century.

ON-SITE PAPER

An Anglo-Norman at Terrassa? Augustinian Canons and Thomas Becket at the
End of 12th century
Carles Sánchez Márquez

The wall paintings which adorn the south transept apse of Santa Maria at
Terrassa are one of the most notable items bearing on the iconography of
St. Thomas Becket. They were discovered in 1917 as a result of the
restoration work inside the church, which had been first consecrated the
1st of January 1112. The iconographic details of the paintings, which
illustrate faithfully the murder of Becket, and the tituli, indicate that
the agents involved in the design of the wall paintings had a close
knowledge of the episode and its sources.

Pope Alexander III's canonization of Becket, only three years after his
death in 1170, was a key factor for the dissemination of his cult
throughout Latin Europe, especially in areas with Plantagenet connections
(Kingdom of Sicily, Duchy of Aquitaine, Kingdom of Castile), where early
depictions of Becket's murder can be found in ivories, reliquaries and
pictorial cycles. However, in the case of Terrassa, the agents that lie
behind the dissemination of Becket's cult are the distinguished houses of
canons regulars of Saint-Ruf. During the second half of the 12th century,
Augustinian houses attached to Saint-Ruf had an important corpus of
manuscripts (Vitae, Passio and Miracula) and many liturgical texts
(missals, sacramentaries, martyrologies, liturgical calendars) that refer
to the archbishop of Canterbury. This marvellous corpus demonstrates that
the cult spread quickly through the congregation of Saint- Ruf, where
Becket acquired a leading role in many codices (BPMP, Santa Cruz de Coimbra
60, BNE MSS/10100 San Vicente de la Sierra) and in artistic works such as
Terrassa.

Notwithstanding this, the presence of an Anglo-Norman canon – Arveus or
Harveus (Harvey) – recently identifies as having been at Terrassa, could
have been the driving force behind the Romanesque paintings of martyrdom of
Thomas Becket. Indeed, Arveus played an important role in the house of
canon regulars of Terrassa, in as much as he was scribe and signed
documents during the second half of the 12th century. His identification as
a canon with an Anglo-Norman background depends on the character of his
handwriting. This conforms with the more rapid and informal handwriting
found in many Anglo-Norman royal, episcopal and baronial charters of the
third quarter of the twelfth century, both in letter forms and in the
treatment of the common elements of certain diagnostic forms. It seems most
likely that he arrived at Terrassa from the motherhouse of St. Ruf, which
was in contact with the Anglo-Norman world through Nicholas Breakspeare
(Pope Adrian IV), a member of the community there, where he had risen to
the positions of prior and then abbot. Although Saint-Ruf did not have any
daughter houses in England, we should remember that many Augustinian houses
had been founded in England by the middle of the 12th century, such as that
at Merton, where Becket himself had been educated, and that some of these
had close contact with the congregation of St Ruf, and were familiar with
its customs precisely because of Adrian IV.
Within this larger context, the fact that a member of the community of
Terrassa was Anglo-Norman, and that this community was attached to a larger
congregation then actively promoting the cult of the recently canonised
archbishop of Canterbury, allows us to suggest new ways of considering the
dissemination of the devotional iconography of St. Thomas Becket. At the
end of the 12th century, the chapel situated in the south transept was
again consecrated again after being embellished with the cycle of St.
Thomas Becket's martyrdom by the 'Master of Espinelves'.

SESSION 6

The artistic patronage of Abbot Gregorius at Cuixà: models and tributes
Anna Orriols

Sant Miquel de Cuixà was one of the outstanding monasteries in Catalonia
between the 10th and the 12th centuries. The abbey church is the result of
a project consecrated in 974/975, when Guarinus was the abbot, and the
significant subsequent intervention Abbot Oliba (1008-1046). The work of
both prelates is described and praised in the text of the monk Garsias
(1043-46), which also provides valuable information about the liturgical
furniture of which hardly anything remains today.

A century later, Abbot Gregorius (c. 1120-1146) promoted a new artistic era
at Cuixà. The works which were undertaken, in all likelihood, during his
abbacy can be understood in a context that was almost as splendid and
ambitious as that of Oliba's period in office. The powerful figure of the
great 11th-century abbot-bishop, together with his well-earned
historiographic reputation, have rather overshadowed Gregorius, and reduced
him to a background figure. Remarkable sculpture (the cloister, and
tribune) can be attributed to his patronage, but his broader cultural
importance has not received enough attention. It has been argued that he
was the author, or inspirer, of the literary work extolling the legendary
dynastic origins of the then powerful House of Barcelona. It must have been
thanks to these links that Count Ramon Berenguer IV appointed him
archbishop of Tarragona, an important position even if, at the time, it was
more of a nominal than an actual post, thereby keeping him attached to his
abbey. The excellent personal position enjoyed by Abbot Gregorius (his
cursus honorum), together with the prestige that already attached to the
abbey's past, portrays a bright time. Furthermore, it helps explain the
tribute paid to the monastery and to his memorable predecessor, Oliba, by a
group of images contained in a Gospel book that was illustrated at the
abbey under the mandate of Gregorius and which 'represents' the principal
places of worship within the monastery. Moreover, one of those images
enables us to make a new suggestion about the possible appearance of the
canopy erected over the high altar by Oilba that is otherwise known only
through the description of Garsias.


Episcopal Patronage in the Reform of Catalan Cathedral Canonries during the
First Romanesque: An Approach
Eduardo Carrero Santamaría

The first half of the 11th century was an epoch of innovation within that
oscillation between the communal and the secular that characterized the
organisation of cathedral chapters prior to the widespread abandonment of
the common life during the 13th and 14th centuries. In the sees of
Catalonia, the bishops of Barcelona (1009), La Seu d'Urgell (1010), Vic
(1017) and Girona (1019) promoted the reform of their cathedral chapters in
ways that had a direct influence on the topography and layout of the
precincts that surrounded their cathedrals. As well as promoting the
construction of new churches, these bishops also encouraged the creation of
buildings devoted to common life of the clergy. For example, in Barcelona
bishop Aeci donated land adjacent to the cathedral specifically for the
construction of buildings dedicated to the regular life. The document that
records this donation, concise and particular in questions of urban
topography, has not been sufficiently emphasized in the study of the later
urban development of the surroundings of the cathedral. In the same way, we
have perhaps overlooked the importance of the 'sets of churches' that
characterised Catalan cathedrals during this period, churches that were
integrated into a larger site in which more than one building was dedicated
to Christian worship. In this respect, the cathedrals of the 11th century
were inheritors of earlier architectural arrangements, either preserved or
known from documents, which consisted of a diverse series of buildings set
aside for worship integrated into a major urban ensemble. This paper will
offer an overview that allows us to examine a movement in episcopal
patronage that over ten years (1009-1019) sensitively changed Catalan
cathedral architecture and its urban setting. In the same way, we will also
stress the continuity that exists with earlier practises, now conducted in
new buildings of a different style.








SESSION 7

The agencies behind the re-invention of flat slab relief sculpture in
Medieval Spain
Rose Walker

This paper will consider the possible agency of papal legates in the
rediscovery of flat relief sculpture in Spain c.1100. The broad
proposition, which I have recently addressed elsewhere, is that the papal
friendship circle promoted the use of antique and late antique sarcophagi
as sources of artistic inspiration from the 1080s. The earliest responses
involved capitals and tombs, but exterior flat slabs offered sculptors new
opportunities. Cardinal Richard of Saint-Victor-de-Marseille is a central
figure in this argument, and especially his attendance at the Council of
Husillos in 1088 and at the Council of Palencia in 1100. The latter also
welcomed Diego Gelmírez as bishop-elect of Santiago de Compostela and
Peter, bishop of Pamplona. Here I want to concentrate on what may be the
most developed example of that policy, the narrative depiction of the
Sacrifice of Isaac on the Puerta del Cordero at San Isidoro de León. This
is a much-studied work of art, but I shall offer a variation on earlier
readings of the depiction of the Sacrifice of Abraham that relates to the
patronage of the infanta Urraca and Alfonso VI. I shall consider the
tympanum as a whole in relation to the occupation of San Isidoro by Canons
Regular in the mid-twelfth century. The preoccupations of the Canons, some
fifty years after the earliest slab relief sculpture at San Isidoro, were
very different, and focussed on their raison d'être, the clerical life
within a community, and on its intellectual expression. This new Collegiate
community was well aware of its position within an informal network of such
institutions that included Saint-Sernin in Toulouse and Saint-Victor in
Paris. I hope to demonstrate how a masterpiece produced under one agency,
both personal and institutional, was re-invented under another.


The 'symbiosis' of kings and bishops in the introduction of Romanesque art
in Navarre and Aragon
Javier Martínez de Aguirre

The study of the role played by bishops and kings in the construction of
three of the main buildings of Spanish Romanesque art (the Monastery of
Leire and the cathedrals of Jaca and Pamplona) allows us to examine
intentionality, the distribution of responsibilities and the benefits of
collaboration. It is possible to define this situation metaphorically
through the concept of 'symbiosis', to the extent that cooperation between
kings and bishops (it being difficult sometimes to distinguish between the
roles played by each) combined to mutual advantage.

Traditional historiography has taken a particular interest in the role
played by the monarchs in the construction of the churches of Leire and
Jaca, and has rather overlooked the participation of the prelate at both
sites – in large part as the result of placing too much emphasis on
documents we now know to be forgeries. If authentic diplomas were the only
ones to be considered, royal intervention would be reduced to financial
support in the construction of these ambitious buildings. However, indirect
sources suggest that the construction of Leire was a cause for satisfaction
to Sancho III (the Great), who was referred to, shortly after his death, as
desiderator et amator agmina monacorum. In the same way, the larger
historical context enables us to speculate about Sancho Ramirez's
participation in the cathedral of Jaca, not only as the initiator of work
on the cathedral, presumably begun shortly after his accession to the
throne of Pamplona (1076), but also in the definition of its architectonic
forms and figurative programme.

In the three churches that are the subject of this paper, there is evidence
that the respective prelates (not always the king) had a direct knowledge
of specific buildings that were taken as points of reference. At Leire the
model would have been Odilon's work at Cluny, which Abbot Sancho had known
personally. At Jaca, recent studies have confirmed formal connections with
Early Christian basilicas first proposed by David Simon. This distant
paradigm satisfied the king's pro-papal political stance (he travelled to
Rome in 1068 and acknowledged his effective enfeoffment to God and to Saint
Peter in 1088-1089), as well as the reform movement in which the king and
the prelates Garcia Ramirez and Peter collaborated. In Pamplona, the bishop
hired the famous Maestro Esteban, master at the cathedral of Santiago de
Compostela, who made use of the Galician cathedral, in plan as well as in
elevation.

The key to the role played by the three above-mentioned prelates is to be
found in their common monastic formation. A prosopographical analysis
reveals that Sancho is the only abbot of Leire in the decades to either
side of its construction that personally knew Cluny. Moreover, according to
the testimony of Jotsaldo, he enjoyed Abbot Odilon's friendship. Peter,
bishop of Jaca, would have been formed at San Juan de la Peña, an abbey
that pioneered the introduction of the Roman liturgical reform into Iberia.
Meanwhile, Pedro de Rodez was the first prelate of the Pamplonese diocese
who was not from Navarre-Rioja-Aragon. This former monk of Conques was
promoted to the episcopacy by the papal legate Ponce de Tomeras. Both Pedro
of Jaca and Pedro de Rodez seem to have favoured the Gregorian Reform.
Their new cathedrals would have served in both cases as a monumental
manifesto for the new path taken in their respective dioceses.










SESSION 8

The 'Literate' Lay Donor: Textuality and the Romanesque Patron
Robert A. Maxwell


This paper examines an important but overlooked aspect of patronage in the
Romanesque period, namely donors' claims to diplomatic 'literacy' as part
of the visual language of donation.

Images of donors offering models of their gifts are well known in the
Romanesque period. These typically show a patron presenting a small
representation of his gift, including small models of churches, stained
glass windows, chalices or other liturgical items. Yet while those well-
known images of a kneeling patron proffering a gift have deeply conditioned
our thinking about the symbolism and culture of patronage in the Middle
Ages, an important but little discussed visual tradition emphasized the
'literate', or better 'diplomatic', authority of some patrons.

The 11th and 12th centuries witnessed a significant transformation in the
role that the written word played owing to the sharp rise of diplomatic
culture. Diplomatics—with its attendant practices of notarial formulas and
protocols, seals and sealing, rituals and performances—had new consequences
for the relationship of the donor to his donation: increasingly donors
made texts an integral part of the symbolism of their gift. We see this,
for example, on a number of church facades in which an inscription
identifies the donor and the circumstances of the donation written as if
the inscription were the donation charter itself. In other instances, the
image of a 'stone charter' on a church facade situates the donor and his
donation even more concretely in the culture of diplomatics. Other images,
particularly in manuscripts, take care to show the donor in the act of
writing out his own donation. Many of these images point to donors'
increasing concern to present themselves as actors in the specifically
textual culture of diplomatics, with all of the authority that implied.

This paper examines the ways in which patrons could be portrayed as having
agency in the diplomatic handling of their donation, and it explores the
consequences of this new visual idiom of patronage. It proposes to view
these works as in relation to what might be called the 'linguistic turn' of
the Romanesque period and argues for an accounting of the role of literacy
and textuality in donors' self-fashioning in the 11th and 12th centuries.
Consequently, by discussing patronage as a condition within a particularly
literate discourse rather than a straightforward 'cause-effect'
relationship, this study also suggests a reconsideration of the terms by
which modern art history has defined 'patronage' in the Middle Ages.


St James Cathedral in Jerusalem, Melisenda and the Question of Exchange
Between East and West
Armen Kazaryan

The Cathedral of St James belonging to the Armenian Church in Jerusalem has
not been seriously studied. Some scholars (T. S. R. Boase, J. Folda, N.
Kenaan-Kedar, C. Mutafian) suggested it was constructed under the patronage
of Melisenda, Queen of Jerusalem (1131–1161), who was Armenian on her
mother's side, and had an interest to the Church's building.


Modern opinion stresses the Armenian features of St. James Cathedral.
However, I shall propose we should return to the older evaluation of St.
James as the result of a mixing of Armenian and Romanesque styles (L.
H.Vincent & F. M. Abel ). We can assume that interfaith pluralism, popular
in the Armenian community in Jerusulem during the 12th and 13th centuries,
as well as the ethnic origin and political role of queen Melisenda, formed
the basis for the original architectural plan of the Armenian Cathedral.


The architecture of the Cathedral reveals its Armenian and Eastern
Christian sources in its groundplan, while the approach to vaulting belongs
to a Latin tradition (employing groin-vaults). The most interesting
question relates to the origin of the dome. Are its sources to be found in
Arabic mosques (such as those surviving at Cordoba or Toledo) or is it
derived from an Armenian tradition? And what is the relationship between
the blind arcading beneath the dome at St James with the exterior treatment
of domes at earlier Armenian cathedrals?


The Armenian cathedral helps us to understand the 12th-century architecture
of the Holy Land and its position with regard to the local traditions of
the Mediterranean and the Middle East. The role played by Melisenda is thus
important not only in the construction of St James, but in the way in which
it reveals something of the process of cultural transmission.


SESSION 9

Romanesque Cathedrals in Northern Italy – Building processes between bishop
and commune
Bruno Klein

Cathedral-building in the Middle Ages was a process which engaged a number
of different people, groups and institutions. Bishops and Chapters are the
first to be mentioned, although the laity - whether noble or not – may also
have contributed. In 11th and 12th-century Northern Italy a particular set
of circumstances seems to have emerged: on the one hand, the role of the
bishops was weakened as a result of the reform of the Church. On the other
hand, we begin to encounter more self –conscious citizens, who increasingly
organised themselves into communes.

The rebuilding of some of the most iconic cathedrals in northern Italy was
started as these new circumstances were beginning to bite, during an
interregnum, in the period between the death of the old bishop, and the
election of a new one. This indicates that the construction of a cathedral
was increasingly regarded as the task of the commune in its proper sense; a
commune that embraces all its members, clergy and laity, as equal patrons.
The process of building also created an opportunity to redefine the role of
and the relationship between the major ecclesiastical and secular
institutions. Finally, it facilitated and perhaps even encouraged the
establishment of new institutions such as the communes themselves, or the
incorporation of some of their members into specialist organisations, like
guilds. Those who were responsible for the construction of the cathedrals
in a practical sense, architects and sculptors, achieved a new, quasi-
institutional role as "artists".

In the light of these aspects, the construction of the well-known
cathedrals of Modena and Piacenza will be reconsidered. In the case of
Modena, the famous "Relatio corporis sancti Geminiani", the account of the
events surrounding the construction of the new church, is regarded as a
precious document which reveals an unstable political situation at the
moment the new cathedral was begun, and how the building process both
provoked new problems for the equilibrium in the city and helped to resolve
them.

In Piacenza, the cathedral is regarded as a space which gave opportunity
for differing representations to the different groups. The reliefs on the
pillars of the nave and the transept, showing individual persons and groups
of craftsmen, are regarded as documents showing the process of civic
institutionalization.

Both cathedrals are here presented as case studies concerning an important
development in relations between different institutional patrons in the
Middle-Ages.


Papal Agency During the Long Twelfth Century
Dorothy F. Glass

Much --- indeed, some may say too much --- has been written about the
Gregorian Reform, so named for one of its primary proponents, Pope Gregory
VII (1073-85). In the arts, that Pope's retrospective tendencies as well as
those of his minions, are most evident in the numerous basilican churches,
many still standing, in Rome and throughout Latium. Modeled on their Early
Christian predecessors, they usually have aisles separated from the nave
by spolia columns topped by capitals, often also spolia, apse mosaics, and
pavements and liturgical furnishings made by the Cosmati, the multi-
generational family of marbleworkers active in central Italy. Nostalgia
reigned; innovation languished.

The Gregorian era in the arts may be said to have ended with Innocent II's
(1130-43) completion of the Roman church of Santa Maria in Trastevere.
Thereafter, during the latter half of the twelfth century, papal patronage
of the arts languished for various reasons: brief papacies, transient
antipopes and the all too frequent incursions of Frederick Barbarossa into
Italy. Hence, one cannot speak, as one could in the Gregorian era, of a
coherent papal policy in regard to the arts. While the Gothic style
burgeoned in France and elsewhere, Italy was, by-and-large, quiescent.

It was only during the papacy of Innocent III (1198-1216) that the Pope
was once again influential in the arts, not only in Rome herself, but also
nationally and, perhaps, internationally. Innocent III, most often
characterized as a theologian and administrator, is often overlooked as a
patron of the arts because most of the works that he commissioned in Rome
are only partially extant or destroyed and now known only through drawings.
Yet, by casting a net beyond Rome, one can capture the influence on the
arts of Innocent III's doctrines, his education at the nascent University
of Paris, and his internationalization of the papal court.

ON-SITE PAPER

Patronage in the Cathedral of Tarragona: Ambition and Devotion in Cultic
and Residential Spaces

Esther Lozano López, Marta Serrano Coll



The aim of this paper is to analyze the extent to which patrons influenced
the construction of the cathedral of Tarragona. Rather than concentrating
solely on the role of the archbishops, who have been the focus of most
research thus far, we will use the available material evidence (epigraphs,
iconography, texts) to assess the role of other key players in the
building's design. In this respect, members of the cathedral clergy are
shown to have been active participants in the design and construction of
the cathedral, irrespective of their standing within the community. Part of
our presentation will therefore focus on determining the precise role
played by the clergy in this process. At the same time, the fact that we
are also investigating the heraldic emblems evident on certain cymatia in
the cloister means that we can trace their complex and extended chronology
in much greater detail.

In general, despite the unequal and somewhat confusing documentary sources
available to us, we aim to provide an analysis that brings together
prosopographic sources and allows us to determine the role of the patrons
in relation to their economic, political, social and religious context,
both within and outside the ecclesiastical setting. Only in this way will
we be able to understand the particularities of this exceptional building,
which, as we shall see, was erected to provide a setting for the exhibition
of power.